Frequently asked questions

What is LitterGram?

LitterGram is a user-friendly communication app for smartphones allowing you to immediately report any litter you see in your area to your local council and pinpoint its exact location. The reported items immediately update a live LitterGram map of the UK highlighting the grot spot and providing the local council with the ability via our LitterGram council portal to act on reported incidents and let you know when they’re cleaned up.

Incidents can be categorised by type.

A reported incident is highlighted as a red map pin and its status is then changed by the local council until it is cleaned up. The statuses are as follows: -

Reported – RED

In Progress – YELLOW

With Third Party – GREY

Completed – GREEN

The LitterGram map can be filtered to view only certain types of incident and certain periods. For example, you may only want to view fly tipping incidents in the last month.

Posts can also be shared to social media.

Why was LitterGram created?

Litter in the UK has increased by 500% since the 1960s and the UK is now one of the most littered countries in the world. We now have a litter crisis that costs us £1bn per year. LitterGram not only enables positive action by getting litter off the streets and helping local councils apply their resources effectively, it helps drive change.

Let’s put the great back in Britain and make littering as socially unacceptable as drinking and driving.

Where can I get the app?

Download the free app to your smartphone from the Apple iOS App Store or Google Play App Store.

How do I activate the app?

Launch the LitterGram app on your smartphone, register a user name and password and you’re ready to go.

How does the app work?

Take a photo of litter (or upload from those taken on your smartphone), choose a category, add a message and post the report.

Providing you have location services enabled on your smartphone (normally enabled by default) the photo will be embedded with geotag data and your report will automatically update the live LitterGram map, and notify the council in your area providing they are signed up to use our free LitterGram council portal.

What else does LitterGram do?

It is a proven fact that poor conditions and a general lack of care encourage the same behaviour and 48% of people admit to dropping litter.

For example, if road or street signs remain unrepaired and/or never cleaned, verges are full of thrown away highway dept. cones, barriers and temporary signs or vehicle debris (hubcaps, bumpers, wing mirrors etc.) from a crash scene is just left by the road side with blue and white police tape left hanging off of trees or fencing, you will normally find discarded litter within a stone’s throw.

Litter attracts litter!

The LitterGram app therefore allows users to assist their local council by being able to categorise incidents as: -

Litter

Fly Tipping

Roadworks Mess

Filthy Road Signs

Broken Road Signs

Potholes

This allows the local council to forward reported incidents to relevant third parties, update the map to show this status and notify the LitterGram user that the incident is in hand. The council will then track the progress of that item and mark it as completed by the relevant party so that the LitterGram user is notified and the map updated to show this.

It is likely that more categories will be introduced as the app gains popularity.

The live LitterGram UK map can be filtered to view the above categories so that trends can be highlighted and grot spots easily indicated.

What else can I get from LitterGram

Whilst local councils are responsible for managing waste and maintaining clean streets in each borough, LitterGram recognises that help from volunteer groups is invaluable and goes a long way to helping clean up the UK. To support this, the LitterGram Amazon online shop offers: -

Educational Posters

Litterpick Event Posters

T Shirts

Hi Viz Vests

Litterpickers

Bags

Is there anything else that LitterGram offers?

Education is key and we would urge all schools and business to educate pupils and staff with our short LitterGram animation available on our website which can be shared via social media and YouTube.

How does LitterGram work with councils?

The LitterGram Mission Control council portal is a simple to use admin area that allows councils to view and action all LitterGram incidents in their borough. It is available to all 433 local authorities in the United Kingdom and is free to use.

What does the LitterGram Mission Control council portal do?

Using existing council resources and with no programing or complex integration into existing back end systems required whatsoever, councils teams can instantly access and use the live LitterGram portal.

Each morning, a daily summary report is sent to the council team advising them incidents in the last 24 hours. Users then simply log in to the portal and take action as part of the routine tasks.

This includes: -

Inviting council staff, third party suppliers or local partners to access and use the portal

Managing portal users ongoing access

Full audit trail of all incidents showing all portal users activity

Messaging LitterGram users to give updates in incidents

Messaging all LitterGram users in the borough at any time to send out any important messages / notifications

Changing status of incidents to update the live LitterGram map

Creating summary PDF reports to assign to internal teams or third parties